VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2 (July to December 2017)

ARTICLE

From giant shipworms to biofuels

by Jo Florendo Lontoc

This giant which lived inside long crusty tubes under the sea had eluded scientists for a very long time, earning the title of “Loch Ness Monster of mollusks” in a New Yorker scientific feature. Little was known of the shipworm with the scientific name Kuphus polythalamia. All modern-day scientists had were the empty skeletal pipes turning up in different parts of the world, and pre-War specimens that had turned into mush.